


The air you breathe is haunting me

by truly_madly_deeply



Series: Birthday Boys [2]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Cashton, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, Love/Hate, Luke helps him through it, M/M, Michael has a panic attack at some point, Muke - Freeform, Muke Clemmings, anyway, enjoy, it's minor but I'm tagging it anyway, this was supposed to be posted on Michael's birthday I'm so late with this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-05-05 12:58:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5376065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/truly_madly_deeply/pseuds/truly_madly_deeply
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael doesn't realise that a certain blond boy keeps, quite literally, stumbling into his life.</p><p>Or,</p><p>those three times fate fails to bring Michael and Luke together on Michael’s birthday, and that one time it finally gets it right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The air you breathe is haunting me

**Author's Note:**

> I'm terribly late with this because it took me ages to write it, but here it is. I hope you guys like it!
> 
> Also, I'm going to update my other stuff as soon as possible. I'm sorry, real life's being a bitch this year, I hope next year's gonna be better.
> 
> (I stole the title of this fic from "Catch Fire", because I was too lazy to come up with something else. All credit goes to 5SOS. Plus, I really love that song.)

On Michael’s 5th birthday, he feels sad and lonely.

He knows that his parents want him to be happy and shit, he’s tried, but he just can’t help it. They’re at the zoo, the three of them, and usually he likes to come here and watch all his favourite animals running around or sleeping or doing absolutely nothing. He actually likes animals a lot better than people, people are stupid. So maybe he really should be happy about the fact that he gets to spend his birthday here instead of being forced to play with other children.

But he isn’t. He doesn’t enjoy it at all this time, to be honest. The sun’s too bright and too hot today – why does he have to live in Australia of all places? - and Michael just wants to go home and hide underneath the blankets in his bed forever. Or at least until the day he’s going to find someone who actually likes him and wants to be his friend. (His parents don’t count. They’re great and he loves them more than anything in the world, but it’s just not the same.)

“Mikey, look. Aren’t they adorable?”

Michael turns his head towards his parents. They’re looking at him expectantly and he tries to force his lips into a smile, but unfortunately fails. He’s only five years old but he can’t stand seeing them sad. It’s bad enough that _he_ can’t stop being sad although it’s his birthday, but his parents deserve better. It’s not their fault that nobody wanted to come to the birthday party his mum had originally been planning for him. It’s not their fault that he doesn’t have any friends.

The thing is, Michael doesn’t like people. He enjoys being alone, at least most of the time. He doesn’t need to be surrounded by other people to be happy, he really doesn’t. But at the same time, he kind of _wants_ some friends. Or maybe just one, that would probably be enough for him. He’s five years old – he’s supposed to have friends, right?

“Yes, they’re adorable,” he tells his parents while turning his head back to the animals they’ve been watching for the past minutes. “They look really clumsy though. But it’s kind of cute?”

His dad nods. “Penguins are also very loyal. If they like each other, they’ll stay together for the rest of their lives.”

“That’s beautiful,” Michael whispers with wide, surprised eyes. He wishes he could find someone who wants to stay in his life. But sometimes he thinks that’s never going to happen.

“You’ll find someone, too,” his mum suddenly says, as if she can read his mind, and smiles at him sadly. “You’re only five years old, you’ll have plenty of time to get to know people.”

The little boy shakes his head. “Nobody likes me.”

“That’s not true, Mikey,” she protests immediately, leaning towards him and wrapping her arms around him protectively.

“But nobody wanted to come to my birthday,” he mumbles quietly. He doesn’t know it, but his words are breaking his parents’ hearts a little.

“I’m so sorry,” his mum says helplessly. “Next year everything’s going to be different, yeah? You’ll have friends, you won’t be alone on your birthday. I promise, Mikey.”

Michael’s about to open his mouth and tell her that she can’t possibly know that, but at that very moment he’s almost being knocked over by another little boy who is, quite literally, running into him with full force. They’re both gasping for air, and if it wasn’t for Michael’s parents and their reflexes, they’d both be toppling to the ground and probably breaking a bone or two.

“I’m sorry,” the other boy stammers, staring at Michael with wide blue eyes. “I didn’t mean to, um … I mean, I didn’t see you there. I was just trying to get to the penguins, they’re my favourite animals …”

“Okay,” Michael mumbles instead of yelling at him like he’d usually do in a situation like this. He’s tired and sad and doesn’t want to argue, especially not with someone he doesn’t even know. Plus, the other boy looks like he’s about to cry or something, and Michael just can’t watch people cry. So he only turns towards to his parents and looks at them almost pleadingly, “Can we go home now?”

“Wait,” he hears a small voice behind him. He doesn’t even know why he’s turning back around and looking at the other boy in the first place - it’s like someone else is grabbing him and forcing him to do so.

“What?” he grumbles, crossing his arms and not even realising that he looks kind of challenging right now. Maybe even a little intimidating, but that doesn’t seem to stop the other boy from taking a step forward and tugging a little at the sleeve of Michael’s shirt.

“Do you want to watch the penguins with me?” he asks shyly. “It’s fun, I promise!”

Michael’s not sure why, but he finds himself shrugging and mumbling an “Okay”, so they step closer towards the wall – it’s transparent, so they can peek through it even though they’re so small. They’re watching the penguins for a little while – the other boy’s been right, it’s fun, and for a couple of minutes Michael actually forgets about the reason why he’s been sad all day.

“I’m Luke, by the way,” the other boy suddenly says out of nowhere, causing Michael to look at him. “What’s your name?”

Michael tries not to be too surprised about the fact that someone’s actually _talking to him_. “Um, I’m Michael.”

“Michael,” Luke repeats, his blue eyes sparkling happily. “That’s a cool name. I like it.”

Michael finds himself staring at him. “Oh,” he says eventually and, wow, that probably sounded really lame.

Luke lets out a quiet chuckle. It almost seems like he wants to continue their little conversation – if you can even call it that – but suddenly there are two slightly taller boys running towards them and grabbing Luke by his shoulders. They look a lot like him, Michael thinks, the same blond hair and blue eyes.

“Luke, come on, you’ve stayed here long enough. Let’s go to the lions, they’re way cooler than your boring penguins anyway.”

“They’re not boring,” Luke protests. The other boys just laugh and drag him away, straight towards a man and a woman Michael hasn’t even noticed until now, although they’ve probably been standing only a few metres away from them the whole time.

Luke turns around and waves at Michael with a genuine smile on his lips before following what is most likely his family and disappearing out of Michael’s sight. And although the sadness is slowly coming back to him now, Michael’s heart doesn’t feel quite as heavy as before in his little chest.

***  
On Michael’s 10th birthday, he feels worried and disappointed.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks for the third time in less than five minutes and totally ignores the grumpy old nurse who looks like she’s about to throw him out of the room. He can’t help it, he’s so concerned. A sprained ankle is a serious matter, so of course he’s a bit anxious!

“I’m fine,” the dark-haired boy in the hospital bed says, looking at him with big brown puppy eyes. “I promise, Michael, it hurts only a little.” It’s a lie and they both know it, but before Michael can point it out, the other boy adds, “And you know that you don’t have to stay here, right? It’s your birthday, you’re supposed to be having fun.”

“ _We_ are supposed to be having fun,” Michael protests while sitting down on the edge of the bed and carefully touching his best friend’s arm. Yes, he actually has a best friend now. They met three years ago and have been inseparable since then. When he’s with Calum, Michael doesn’t even care that other people think he’s weird. He used to be a little hurt whenever someone called him that, but now that he has Calum, he knows it’s okay. It’s okay to be weird, Calum’s a bit weird, too. They can be weird together.

“I’m sorry, Michael. I’m so stupid,” Calum sighs.

Michael shakes his head. “Don’t apologise. It’s not your fault that you tripped over your neighbour’s cat and sprained your ankle. I mean, things like that just happen. Really, it’s fine, I’ll just … I’ll get us something to eat from the cafeteria, okay? We can have fun here, we’ll just watch a film together and eat too much candy.”

“You don’t have to do that though. You know that, right?”

“Yeah,” Michael nods with a half-hearted smile. “But I want to. You’re my best friend, Calum, and I want to spend my birthday here with you. It doesn’t matter where we are, as long as we’re together.”

It’s the truth, he thinks, although he can’t help the stinging feeling of disappointment that aches in his chest while he’s wandering downstairs and heading for the cafeteria. They’ve had plans for today and now they’re stuck here in the hospital, and despite the fact that he’s meant every word he just said to Calum, he can’t help but feel a little bitter about the whole situation.

“Stop pushing me, Jack! You’re so annoying, I can’t believe I have to – ouch! Shit, I’m so sorry! Jack, look what you’ve done!”

Michael can’t believe this is happening. The front of his shirt is soaked in sticky brown liquid and it’s already dripping to the floor and ruining his favourite pair of shoes. His first instinct is to yell at the stupid blond boy who has just dumped his entire coke on him and therefore made his day even worse than it already is – but there’s something that’s holding him back. Something he can’t explain, something he doesn’t understand at all.

“I’m so sorry,” the other boy says again while staring at him with big blue eyes. “I didn’t mean to do that, I’m really sorry!”

Michael doesn’t reply, he just stares back, frozen on the spot. He’s almost one hundred percent sure that he’s looked into those eyes before. They’re just so … blue …

“Oh, there you are. Come on, boys, Ben’s waiting for us upstairs. The doctor said we can finally take him home today, he’s much better now,” he suddenly hears a female voice behind him that’s startling him a little. 

“Mum, wait, I can’t go,” the other boy protests. “I’m so sorry,” he repeats once again, looking at Michael with guilt written all over his face. “I really didn’t mean to –“

“Okay,” Michael cuts him off, trying to ignore the blond woman who’s now looking at him as well. He doesn’t like being stared at, it makes him feel so uncomfortable, so he does what seems only logical to him in this situation and quickly hurries away.

His brain keeps shouting at him to turn around and go back, but he ignores that as well. He walks back to Calum’s room instead and finds Calum’s mum there. Luckily for Michael, she brought some fresh clothes since Calum has to stay at the hospital for at least another two days. So Michael borrows one of the shirts and then crawls onto the bed to share the cake Calum’s mum brought as well. He’s glad that he doesn’t have to go back downstairs and get something from the cafeteria, although his brain’s still judging him for his escape.

***  
On Michael’s 15th birthday, he feels angry and confused.

He let Calum drag him out of his house and actually believed him when he promised “I have a surprise for you and you’re gonna love it!”, and now they’re standing in the elevator of a high building somewhere in the middle of Sydney after Calum’s finally told him more about his surprise a minute ago.

He was right, Michael loves it. Having a birthday party on a rooftop and getting to enjoy a great view the whole night sounds fucking awesome. He’d be really happy right now, if it wasn’t for one little detail he absolutely hates …

“Why the hell did you invite _him_?” he growls at Calum who just rolls his eyes at him in return.

“Stop being an asshole, Michael. I invited loads of people from our school, I don’t even know who else is gonna show up.”

“But it’s my birthday!” Michael argues back, his eyes now settling on the third person in the steadily moving elevator.

“Don’t listen to him, Luke,” Calum groans in an annoyed tone while Michael’s still glaring at the blond boy and most likely cursing the entire world at this very moment.

Luke audibly clears his throat before curling his lips into a forced little smile. “Um. Happy birthday, Michael. I, uh, I brought alcohol,” he offers a bit helplessly. “My brothers got it for me, I mean, it’s just beer, but still …”

“Yeah, whatever. Just shut up and don’t talk to me again,” Michael interrupts him harshly, now acting like a total dick on full purpose. He doesn’t like Luke, quite the opposite actually, and he intends to make this crystal clear to everyone. (Not that they don’t know it already. He’s made it pretty obvious since the moment they met for the first time at school. He doesn’t even know why he can’t stand the guy, so technically it’s not even his fault that he’s being an asshole towards him. He just can’t help it.)

Luke shuts his mouth, blinking stupidly while doing so, and Calum looks like he’s about to punch his best friend for being such a jerk – but then something’s happening that shuts them all up for a moment.

“What the fuck?” Michael’s the first one to open his mouth eventually. “That’s not the top floor, is it? Cal, why the fuck did it stop?”

“Um,” Calum says, confusion being written all over his face. “I don’t know. That’s weird. Uh, it’s probably just –“ Then the lights start to flicker above them and there’s a sharp rumble somewhere underneath them, and a second later they’re surrounded by complete darkness.

Michael begins to panic almost immediately. He’s always been a bit scared of the dark, but even worse is the fact that apparently they’re _stuck in the damn elevator_. This has always been one of Michael’s biggest fears, although he’d never admit it, and suddenly there doesn’t seem to be enough air to breathe.

“Shit! Are you guys okay? Michael, are you alright?” Calum asks, his voice sounding alarmed. Of course it does, Calum knows him better than anyone else. He knows about Michael’s fears, even the ones Michael’s never told him about.

“Y-yeah, sure, I’m fine,” Michael stutters while he’s desperately trying to keep his heart rate down. If they were alone in the elevator, he’d probably freak out and yell at Calum to get him out of here, but since Luke’s there, he has to pull himself together. He can’t let him know that he’s scared, he has to remain calm. Or at least he has to pretend to.

“Don’t worry,” he hears Luke’s voice. It almost sounds a tiny little bit calming. “I’m sure we’ll be out of here in no time. There has to be a an emergency button, right?”

“Shut up,” Michael chokes out, his voice shaking uncontrollably now. Fuck, Luke’s not supposed to notice his fear, but there’s no way he doesn’t.

“No, Luke’s right,” Calum intervenes. A couple seconds later he’s holding his phone in his hand and tapping against the screen, causing it to flash up. “I’ll take care of it,” he adds while stepping in the direction of the numerous buttons on the wall.

Michael decides to close his eyes and blend out his surroundings until this horrible situation is over. He can’t believe this is happening, on his birthday of all days. What the hell did he do to deserve this?!?

“Michael? Are you sure you’re okay?” It’s Luke who’s asking this time, but Michael stubbornly ignores him and keeps his eyes tightly squeezed shut. He refuses to open them again, even when he hears Calum mutter something under his breath that definitely doesn’t sound hopeful at all. Maybe he can trick his brain into pretending that everything’s fine, that this is just a stupid dream and he’ll wake up any minute …

“Hello? Hey, can you hear me? We’re stuck in the elevator, can you please get us out of here as fast as possible?”

Michael tries not to listen to the conversation Calum’s having with whoever answered the emergency call. Maybe he should sit down a little, keep his eyes closed and hope he’ll fall asleep …

“Michael?” It’s Luke’s voice again, and it’s closer than it’s been before. “Michael, look at me. You need to calm down, okay? Everything’s going to be fine, I promise. Try to take deep breaths, yeah?”

Michael’s heart almost skips a beat. He wants to yell in Luke’s face to leave him the fuck alone and mind his own business – but at the same time, he wants to pull him closer and beg him to wrap his arms around him. He hates himself for thinking the latter, but he can’t help it. He’s so fucking scared, and he just wants someone, _anyone_ , to hold him in their arms and tell him that it’s going to be okay and –

And then his thoughts freeze in his head and his brain shuts completely down, because suddenly he can feel fingertips gently pressed against his skin. Michael’s breath gets caught in his throat and he simply can’t move anymore, not even a millimetre, and his eyes flutter open very slowly.

It’s so dark that he can barely see anything, but there’s a thousand shades of blue right in front of him and he wants nothing more than to immerse himself in them and drown.

He would, if the lights weren’t back on only a few seconds later. The elevator’s moving again and at the opposite wall, Calum lets out a relieved sigh and mutters “Fucking finally, thank God” before turning around – and immediately raising his eyebrows at them.

“Are you okay?” he asks in a knowing voice that has Michael’s cheeks turn a dark shade of red. Luke blushes, too, and quickly takes a step back while looking anywhere but Michael’s face. “Alright then,” Calum says when none of them answers, his lips twitching suspiciously. It’s only a matter of time until he can’t stop himself from smirking at them, Michael just knows it. He can only hope that at least his best friend will keep his big mouth shut.

(Of course he doesn’t, but at least Luke’s getting way too drunk to remember any of Calum’s stupid comments. Michael hopes so, at least.)

***  
On Michael’s 20th birthday, he feels terribly hungover, and so does his whole band.

He stumbles down the stairs of their LA home after taking a long shower and putting on a pair of boxers and an old T-shirt. His stomach feels so empty that he’d eat even his least favourite food right now, if he had to. Luckily, he can smell fresh bacon and scrambled eggs as soon as he enters the kitchen, and then he spots his three best friends at the table.

“Morning, birthday boy,” Ashton says with a tired grin. “You look like shit.”

Michael rolls his eyes. “Wow, thanks asshole. You know what, it’s totally worth it, last night was fucking amazing.”

“He’s right, that party was awesome,” Luke agrees around a mouthful of food. “Besides, it’s not like we look any better.”

“Aww, thanks Lucas,” Michael snorts, sitting down next to him and poking him in the ribs.

“Hey!” Luke protests, shoving him back. “Stop it, I just defended you!”

“No, you didn’t, you only insulted yourself,” Michael corrects him, and then adds with a pout, “I feel disregarded, you know. I mean, it’s _my_ job to insult you, you don’t have to do it yourself.”

“Can you two just shut up?” Calum complains. “My head hurts, at least don’t talk so loudly.”

“Not my fault,” Michael retorts unapologetically while stealing a piece of bacon from Ashton’s plate. “Nobody forced you to have all those drinks, you know. I think you had even more drinks than the rest of us combined, so it’s definitely your own fault.”

“I hate you,” Calum mutters, shoving his plate back and looking at Ashton with big brown puppy eyes.

Ashton lets out a groan. “Yeah, fine, go back to bed, I’ll get you some painkiller. Why the hell do I always have to do this?”

“Because you’re the responsible one and we love you,” Calum says with a sudden grin that quickly turns into a fond little smile as he watches Ashton leave the room.

“Speak for yourself, Cal. _You_ love him,” Michael snickers. “And what are you waiting for, you heard what he said.”

“Alright, I’ll try to get some more sleep. I know it’s your birthday, but we still have time to celebrate later, right?” Calum replies, totally ignoring the first part of Michael’s comment.

“Dude,” Luke says with a little laugh, “we celebrated enough last night, don’t you think? I mean, we should probably sleep away the whole day anyway.”

“Hey!” Michael shoves him a bit, _of course_.

Luke grimaces. “Shut up, Mike. And stop pushing me, goddammit!”

Calum mutters something under his breath that sounds suspiciously like “Get a room” and “So married” before leaving the kitchen and closing the door, and Michael tries his hardest not to blush furiously at the innuendos he’s just heard. Luke has definitely heard them, too, but only lets out a small giggle. It’s not the first time one of their bandmates made a comment like that, and usually they either ignore it or pretend to start making out, just to piss Ashton and Calum off – really, there is no in between.

But every single time they make fun of the whole thing, Michael wishes they’d be making out for real. Sometimes he wonders if Luke wants that, too. He can definitely see the way Luke looks at him - the entire world has noticed that by now, he thinks - and Michael himself isn’t any better. But they’ve never made the first move, never tried to make it real, that thing they maybe could have if they’d be more courageous. It’s like they both know that there’s more than friendship between them, much more, but they both just don’t know how to do something about it.

“Hey, Michael? There’s presents waiting for you in the living room,” Luke says eventually, and it isn’t until then that Michael notices the awkward silence between them. (He has probably been staring at Luke’s lips, and Luke’s probably noticed and tried to stop him from doing so without pointing it out. God, they’re both such idiots, Michael thinks.)

“Oh, great. I love presents!” Michael’s feeling kind of dumb right now, so he quickly adds, “Let’s go unwrap them then. Um, I mean, obviously I’m going to unwrap them and you’re going to watch. If you want to.”

“Sure,” Luke replies with an excited little grin. And, okay, Michael shouldn’t find that so adorable, but he does anyway.

Five minutes later they’re in the living room, sitting on the floor, surrounded by tons of wrapping paper. Michael feels so good right now that his hungover is almost forgotten for the moment, and when he grabs the last envelope from the floor and spots his parents’ names on the left upper corner, his lips break into a big happy smile.

“Luke, look, it’s from my parents!” he exclaims while already ripping the envelope open. He knows he’ll only find a card inside, since they usually give him his birthday presents when he comes home – they sent them to him the first time he didn’t get to spend his birthday at home, and unwrapping them without his family there just felt so wrong – but he loves reading their birthday wishes, even though he gets a little sad every time and also a bit homesick and –

“What’s that?” Luke asks surprised, leaning a little to the side and snatching the piece of paper that’s just fallen out of the envelope. Only that it’s not a piece of paper, he quickly realises. It’s a photograph that looks like it’s been taken at least ten or fifteen years ago, being a bit faded and crumpled, and it shows …

“What the fuck?” Michael says, his eyes going wide as he catches a glimpse of the photograph. Luke’s eyes widen, too, they almost seem to bulge out of his head, and then they both just sit there and stare at each other in complete silence.

“I … that’s us,” Luke whispers after what feels like an eternity. “At the … zoo? Michael, did we … did we meet at the zoo all those years ago?! I remember being there with my family once or twice when I was younger, and I remember watching the penguins, but … is that _you_ standing next to me?!?”

Michael’s speechless, and that’s definitely something that hasn’t happened very often in his life. The only thing he’s capable of doing right now is give a little nod in response and then go back to looking back and forth between the photograph and Luke’s beautiful face. _What the fuck_. That little boy he met at the zoo fifteen years ago – and he remembers that day, always has, even before he opened the envelope a minute ago – was _Luke fucking Hemmings_?!?

“Oh my God,” Luke breathes out, his voice clearly shaking a bit. “I had no idea, _fuck_. Did your parents take that picture? – Of course they did, that’s a stupid question. Oh my God, we look so _happy_ , and we didn’t even know each other! It’s like fate tried to bring us together, but it didn’t work, and then … then we found each other anyway. That’s incredible, I can’t believe we –“

Michael shuts him up, simply by grabbing his face and smashing their lips together. His brain’s yelling at him to pull back and apologise, but in the end, his heart’s winning this battle. Besides, Luke doesn’t seem to expect an apology, if the fact that he doesn’t even hesitate a split second before kissing back is anything to go by. It almost feels desperate, the way their lips are moving against each other, like they’ve both been dying to do it for too long …

“Michael,” Luke whimpers into his mouth, and Michael can’t help but moan a little when their tongues start sliding together. Oh God, this is really happening, he’s actually _kissing Luke_. Fuck, this is the best thing that’s ever happened to him!

Then Luke climbs into Michael’s lap and buries his hands in the bright red hair. Their kiss is becoming more heated now, like they’re scared to drown if they slow down the tiniest bit, and Michael’s a little afraid that he might run out of air and realise it too late to do anything about it.

“Michael,” Luke repeats breathlessly. His voice sounds so beautifully wrecked already and Michael absolutely loves it. “Please, I … I need to know what this means to you … I can’t do this if you don’t want to –“

“I want you.” It slips out before Michael can stop himself from saying it, but to be honest, he’d rather rip his tongue out than take his words back. In fact, he feels the sudden urge to confess even more, so he does. “I’ve always wanted you, Luke. Not only as a friend, I … I want everything. I love you, fuck, I love you so fucking much …”

This time it’s Luke who surges forward and presses their lips together in a heated kiss. He pulls back after a couple seconds, his deep blue eyes staring right into Michael’s green ones, and whispers “I love you, too” before going back to attacking Michael’s lips and sliding his tongue into his mouth to explore every corner of it. Michael moans and bucks up his hips, and that’s enough for Luke to push his own hips down and tangle his hands back into Michael’s hair. He pulls, _hard_ , and Michael would absolutely _love_ to rip both their clothes off and fuck Luke senseless, but right now, he’s definitely not patient enough for that.

So he pushes Luke off his lap and onto the couch and climbs on top of him, his mouth attacking Luke’s neck immediately. Luke whines and pulls at his hair again, and then they’re desperately grinding against each other and moaning each other’s name while their orgasms are building up ridiculously fast.

“Michael … wanted this … so bad,” Luke pants and Michael breaks their kiss to suck Luke’s lip ring into his mouth. Luke lets out a sinful moan and meets Michael’s hips one last time with his own before coming hard, and that’s all it takes for Michael to reach his orgasm as well.

“Fuck,” Luke says with a breathless laugh while Michael’s burying himself in Luke’s arms and pushing his face in the crook of his neck. “We actually did that.”

Michael can’t stop himself from smiling against Luke’s skin. “Yeah, we did. And it was fucking amazing. I can’t believe you didn’t even last five minutes though.”

“You didn’t either!” Luke protests.

“Trust me, I had no choice. Your orgasm face is the hottest thing ever.”

“Oh, shut up,” Luke mumbles, his face going pink, and Michael just laughs and presses a quick kiss to his neck. He could stay like this forever, he’s pretty sure about that.

But not even half a minute later there are footsteps in the doorway and then they hear Ashton’s mocking voice, “Awwww, look, they’re being ridiculously cute again.”

“So gross,” Calum mutters while following the oldest band member into the room, causing Michael to lift his head and send them a malicious smirk, “Wanna know what’s really gross, guys?”

Luke lets out an embarrassed groan. “Michael, _no_. – Why are you here anyway?” he adds quickly in the direction of their friends. “I thought you wanted to go back to bed, Cal?”

“Yeah, well, Ash’s painkiller helped a lot faster than I thought. I’m feeling a lot better already,” Calum replies while eyeing them suspiciously.

“Me too,” Michael announces, the evil smirk still being visible on his lips. “Wanna know what exactly made me feel _so good_?”

“ _Michael_ ,” Luke repeats and blushes furiously. “Shut up, _please_.”

“Make me,” Michael shoots back, his smirk turning into a triumphant grin now, and Luke blushes even further and smacks him lightly against the shoulder.

Calum keeps looking back and forth between them with a deep frown on his face, like he’s struggling to figure out what’s going on, but Ashton’s brain seems to catch up a lot faster, because suddenly his eyes widen almost comically and he practically yells at them, “Oh my God, what did you _do_ on our couch?! I swear to God, if I find anything gross on it, I’ll kill you both!”

“No, you won’t. You love us,” Michael states matter-of-factly while Luke’s failing to suppress a quiet laugh.

“Wait,” Calum says, his eyes widening, too. “Please tell me you did not just fuck in our living room.”

“Technically, we didn’t fuck. Yet,” Michael answers with a nonchalant shrug, causing Luke to let out another giggle and their friends to look at them absolutely horrified.

“What else did you do? No, wait, don’t answer that, I don’t even want to know!”

“Come on, Ash. Why can’t you be happy for us?” Michael looks at him with a pout and Ashton shakes his head and mutters something that sounds like “Unbelievable” and “I hate you both”, but his lips are twitching suspiciously.

Calum clears his throat. “So, at least you stopped being dumb and finally got together?”

“Yeah,” Michael says, smiling at Luke and then pressing a quick kiss to his lips. “Yeah, we’re together now. Right?” he asks Luke, his smile suddenly falling from his lips and being replaced by an almost panicked expression. “I’m sorry, we didn’t … I mean, I was just assuming …”

“Shut up,” Luke interrupts him without hesitation. “Of course we’re together, you idiot.”

“Awwww,” Ashton teases, his lips breaking into a mocking grin, and Calum lets out a laugh and says, “Good, you’ve been acting like boyfriends for the past four years anyway. It was getting really annoying, you know.”

Michael flips them both off. “Fuck you. At least _we_ never pretended to be completely straight. Come on, Luke, I need a shower. And, you know. Something else.”

Luke’s giggling again and dragging him out of the room as fast as he can, and Calum yells “Don’t forget to use a condom!” after them, just to be a dick, and also to avoid meeting Ashton’s eyes. Michael’s an idiot and Calum just wants him to shut up instead of throwing innuendos at them. It’s ridiculous and stupid, and it’s getting quite annoying.

“So,” Ashton says when Luke and Michael are gone, and he’s smiling so widely that Calum’s heart does a backflip in his chest. “Wanna watch a movie or something?”

Calum gives a little nod. “Sure, sounds great. They’re not going to come back anytime soon anyway.”

(His heart is _not_ beating a little faster when they’re cuddled up on the couch together five minutes later. Nope. Definitely not.)

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me what you think? :)
> 
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